


Your only chance for hapiness

by Darknessisafriend



Category: The Sisters Brothers (2018)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-02-22 16:17:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darknessisafriend/pseuds/Darknessisafriend
Summary: Where the reader has been teamed up with the brothers to go kill Herman and during the journey Charlie and the reader develop feelings for each other but never admitting it. Then the reader gets mad and ignores him after he got drunk and slept with many girls at Mayfield’s brothel and after a while they make up and tell each other, FLUFF and SMUT
Relationships: Charlie Sisters/Reader, Charlie Sisters/You
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Eli stood outside on his horse; his little brother Charlie was inside the villa, talking with the commodore to report on their past mission and maybe get another one. How he wished he could go home, hug his mother, and his lady, he was tired of all this violence, but not his little brother, and what else could he do to help him other than be there for him?

Suddenly Eli was pushed out of his thoughts by Charlie knocking at the glass of the window, gesturing for him to come inside; was the governor so disappointed in their performance? 

“Eli, it’s good to see you, please sit.” Invited the governor, Eli looked at his brother who made a face, showing that he also didn’t have any idea of what all this about. The governor sat at his desk, leaning forward on his forearm.

“Listen, you are one of the best henchmen in the country but lately you’ve been…disappointing and I believe it is because your team lacks a leader. Charlie, you’re the smartest, I want you to become the leader…” declared the commodore, Charlie seemed pleasantly surprised, a grin forming on his face. As for Eli, he didn’t mind as long as he was still paid.

“But that’s not the only thing I wanted to tell you, your team needs a third member, someone to balance your…impulsions.”

“What? Governor we don’t need someone to babysit us” argued Charlie frowning.

“And how can we trust this person?” retorted Eli, he didn’t want to be shot in the back while he slept.

“Do not worry, you can trust this person, she is an excellent but lonely bounty hunter who could use a team too…”

“Did you just say ‘she’?” exclaimed Charlie confused, at this moment the governor gestured to his men to introduce the third member of the team. 

You; you had heard the whole conversation, you weren’t happy to be teamed-up but the job paid well, and they’ll end up with a bullet in the skull if they started to pissed you off. So, you entered, the both of them turning to look at you, the big one seemed to only realize that you were a woman, he had a shocked expression on his face, was it because you wore a pants and boots like a man? whereas the younger one, had his mouth agape and seemed insulted, then he chuckled.

“Is this a joke? A woman!” he jested laughing. You came to stand next to the governor, ignoring his childish reaction.

“She is a very competent man hunter.” added your employer.

“Well, I don’t know about man hunting but she could certainly be useful for other activities…” suggested the younger man with a smirk, looking at you from head to toes.

“Charlie!” reprimanded his brother. 

“If you want to become a eunuch that can be arranged” you replied with a sly smile, Charlie chuckled.

“I’d like to see that.” he defied, now you were itching to take out your gun to teach him a lesson.

“Charlie, I won’t change my mind, and you will accept it or she takes lead of the mission and your salary as well.” threatened the governor, his patience starting to wear off, this seemed to make the man react and he swallowed back his pride, clenching his jaw.

“Alright but don’t expect any favors woman, you’ll live just like us.” he warned you.

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself.” you replied annoyed, you were perfectly able to live this way, you had been for the past two years. 

The commodore finally released you and your team quickly afterwards. The tension was present especially between you and the younger man.

“What’s your name miss? I’m Eli” said the older one as he introduced himself, handing his hand for you to shake, his brother sucked his teeth in disapproval.

“Pleasure to meet you, you can call me Y/N” you replied with a polite smile as you shook his hand, his grip was gentle, seems like he was true gentleman. Charlie was watching the two of you interact, annoyed by how his brother was to you. 

“So, what did the commodore said? And what about the horses?” asked Eli, Charlie sighed as he climbed on his horse.

“Come on, let’s get a drink” he prompted tiredly, did they want to talk privately or should you join? “well don’t just stand there” added Charlie over his shoulder, to this you quickly jumped on your horse and followed them to the Saloon.

“So, you know about the leadership problem…” started Charlie has he rolled a cigarette.

“What does it mean for the money?” asked his brother.

“It means more for me”

“No, for me I mean, is it like before?” clarified Eli, you blinked a few times, perhaps he was a nice guy but not very clever.

“Of course not, less necessarily.” replied Charlie on a casual tone, Eli sighed annoyed.

“If the Commodore wants to pay a leader it’s his own problem, it’s not a good thing to swipe on the small staff.”

“Don’t wanna know what we have to do?” asked the younger one as he changed the topic of the conversation.

“No.”

“What? You sulking?” he lighted his cigarette, while Eli took a sip of his drink, you did the same, patiently waiting for the conversation to come to the real important matters. At this moment, a guy entered the Saloon, you turned your head, he better stays out, Charlie looked like the kind of guy to draw his gun at the slightest annoyance. 

“Hey move! We’re not finished.” warned Eli, the barman gestured to the man to stay out, Eli was truly pissed off about his salary apparently; it wasn’t necessary to mention you were paid as much as Charlie.

“I’m still telling you; we have to find Morris in the south road.” 

“The John Morris of the Commodore?” Charlie hummed in confirmation.

“Why do we have to find Morris?” asked Eli dumbfounded; Charlie exhaled.

“He’s tracking a prospector, some Herman Kermit Warm” you intervened.

“Perfect, he finds him, shoots him, end of the story”

“Morris is a detective, ain’t a killer” pointed out Charlie with an annoyed tone.

“The job is Morris finds the guy, keeps him close to him, he tells us, we arrive, we finish the job, that’s the job” well summarized you thought, clearly Charlie was a man of action, going straight to the point, at least it’s something you had in common with him.

“And what about the horses?” asked again Eli fully shifting in his sit to face his brother.

“But damn what’s your problem with horses?!” badgered Charlie, losing his patience.

“The commodore said he’ll give us new horses Charlie” argued his brother.

“That’s not what he did?”

“No. You, he gave you a new horse, for me he freed some space in his stable and gave me an old horse” Charlie soundly sighed annoyed by the insistence of his brother.

“Don’t you think we could talk about this later?”

“No, it’s for this job, now, that I need a horse, not for later” insisted Eli. 

“Your horse is great, stop acting like a child.” the tone of Charlie was without appeal.

“It’s the word share that bothers you right?” now you clearly understand what the problem was, as brothers they couldn’t stop annoying each for small things, no wonder their last mission failed.

“What about you? You know how to shoot?” asked you Charlie his tone clearly showing he didn’t like your presence in the team.

“Of course, you’re far from being my first job you know, last time I took down the Wilsons” you disclosed as you took another sip of your drink.

“What? you’re the one who got the Wilsons? All six of them? By yourself?” exclaimed Eli in disbelief, a smirk formed on your lips, you were quite proud of this mission.

“Sure, didn’t you hear the commodore? I’m one of the best around here.” you added; throwing a challenging look at Charlie, he raised an eyebrow in return, pleasantly surprised.

“Interesting…I guess you’re gonna be useful after all.” he commented, getting up to get out, Eli followed him finishing his drink. 

“It’s the boss who pays, with his boss salary.” you told the barman, making Eli laugh and Charlie give you a provocative smile, you realized the bastard was pretty good looking with his perfect smirk and his icy green orbs. You followed them outside.

“So, when do we leave?” you asked impatient.

“We’ll meet here, tomorrow at dawn, don’t be late sweetheart.” Charlie said over his shoulders, and now he gave you a nickname, you huffed amused, you knew that sooner or later you’ll have to teach him a lesson if he takes too many liberties with you.

In the morning you were actually the first one up, you had trouble sleeping anyway, you always did on the eve of a mission, turning over and over in your bed as you thought about your target, and this night was added the thought about your two partners, Eli didn’t seem a threat, but you didn’t know if you could sleep with both eyes closed with Charlie, he looked clever and didn’t like you, maybe he was capable of killing you in your sleep just to get rid of you…

“Good morning.” you saluted the two brothers as you saw them approach on their horses. Eli answered you while Charlie simply tipped his hat at you.

“Alright, let’s go.” declared Charlie as he gave a sharp heel kick to the horse and galloped, you and Eli did the same. You rode the whole day until night, your bottom and your legs were starting to ache after a full day on a horse, you even ate lunch on it, you could tell Charlie was eager to get to his target, why? Money? Something else? You didn’t know, you will probably learn to know him and his brother during your travel. Most of the day they had stayed silent, focused on their horses and on the way to go.

You finally found a place to camp that night, tying the horse to trees, Eli started to make a fire while you and Charlie took off the horse’s saddles. You were throwing quick glances at Charlie, observing his behavior.

“How come a woman like you, a beautiful woman I must had, ended up bounty hunter?” he asked you genuinely curious. You were slightly taken aback at his question; you didn’t expect him to be interested in knowing you.

“Well, I always had a taste for adventure, let’s put it this way, didn’t see myself stay in town my whole life, getting married to some drunkard, have his kids and that’s it. No, not for me, I like my freedom.” you explained sincerely, you were proud of your choice of life, and you had proved to countless people that a woman didn’t need extra care or privacy, and that she wasn’t more fragile or sensitive than any other man.

“I see…as long as you do a good job, I don’t care that you’re a woman.” he replied on a casual tone.

“Good…what about you Charlie?” you returned the question.

“I’m just good at killing.” he answered coldly, his tone indicating he didn’t want to talk about that, he brought his saddle around the fire to use it as a pillow. You were intrigued, he seemed to have a lot of anger in him or something like that, he was constantly on the defensive. You joined them by the fire, the food was already warm, Eli gave you your plate with a friendly smile. 

“Thanks.” 

“Y/N if you don’t mind me asking, are you truly lonely in your life? I mean don’t you have a fiancé or someone waiting for you at home?” asked you Eli politely.

“No, who would want an improper, kinda tomboy woman as their wife.” you answered on a humorous tone, wearing a smile on your lips to mask how you really felt, you actually wished you had someone who would love you for who you were.

“What about your family then?” you sighed; he meant no harm but that was a complicated subject for you to talk about.

“I… huh…prefer not to talk about it Eli. Sorry.” Charlie’s eyes met yours briefly as he heard your answer, like he was suddenly intrigued or as if he understood how you felt.

“Oh Eli, now you’ve upset the lady!” accused Charlie on a teasing tone.

“I didn’t…”

“Don’t call me ‘lady’” you told Charlie, annoyed.

“What do you want me to call you? Oh, I know! You didn’t mind ‘sweetheart’ yesterday” he teased you with a mischievous smile; your mouth opened in a ‘o’ shape, you were outraged, god he was infatuating, you were so close to punch him in… his beautiful face.

“I’m sor-….” started the older brother, interrupting your trail of thoughts. 

“No, don’t apologize Eli, I’m perfectly fine, okay?” and now Charlie was laughing his ass off at the scene, you looked at him in disbelief, before a laugh started to build in your chest, until you couldn’t resist and let it out, you realized you could relax a bit, it was harmless teasing. Your eyes wandered on the face of Charlie who was still laughing, the warm light of the fire was highlighting his tanned skin, his dark hair were smoothed back neatly, he had some kind of elegance, the one you liked at least. When the laughs died down, the conversation went back to seriousness. Charlie was laying down on his back, legs crossed, looking at the fire

“So, what did he do this Herman Warm?” asked Eli while finishing to eat his plate.

“He stole something from the commodore” you answered.

“Don’t you find this weird, all these people stupid enough to steal from such a dangerous man? How can they rob him in the first place? We know the commodore is a prudent man” 

“Prudence has nothing to do with it, he’s man doing business all over the country, even overseas, he can’t be everywhere at the same time, it’s logical that he gets persecuted” explained Charlie, you arched an eyebrow, ‘persecuted’ was a bit of a strong word for that.

“Persecuted?” repeated Eli

“Yeah…persecuted.”

“The commodore persecuted…” Eli was thinking, it didn’t seem right to use this word.

“How do you call that huh? When a man is forced to protect his fortune with people like us, how do you call that?” retorted Charlie as he sat back.

“Not persecuted” replied Eli

“Wait, you’re not going to start catching me with every word now, what’s the matter? You’re vexed? You’re vexed because I’m the one leading the operations huh? If it’s that just tell me but stop niggling” Charlie was starting to lose patience, he was so quick to anger. 

“I’m not niggling, you’re just using a strange word and I’m tellin’ you” answered Eli on a calm tone, unphased.

“Oh, c’mon boys, are you really gonna fight over a word!?” you grumbled exasperated. Charlie groaned in return and went to lie down on his side, like a pouting child. You shook your head; they could be truly insufferable sometimes, you lied down too, putting your covers up to your chin, hiding a knife under your saddle that used as a pillow; your eyes traveled to Eli, he had a piece of red clothing in his hands, it looked like a scarf, he brought it to his face, inhaling its scent, you smiled soften, probably a gift from the woman he loved; then he lied down putting his hand on his gun which was shining under the light of the fire; was he always doing that? Or was it because of your presence? Nonetheless, the both of you were armed in case someone decided to go crazy…but quickly exhaustion took over and you fell asleep.

The next day you rode again, although the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed, the three of you were talking, making the road seem less long.

“Tell me, isn’t it Emilia Partridge?” asked Charlie with interest, his brother looked at him clueless.

“What are you talking about?” he asked

“Isn’t it the teacher who gave this ridiculous scarf? The one you spend your time folding and unfolding secretly every night.” you rolled your eyes at this; did he really have to bother him like that?

“It’s called a stole… can’t we have some privacy for 5 minutes?”

“Leave him alone Charlie; Eli I think it’s very romantic of her…” you commented, trying to avoid another argument.

“Thank you Y/N”

“Oh, come it’s just a little teasing sweetheart… do you have a plan with her?” asked Charlie, this time he was serious, no joke was intended.

“A plan?”

“Start a family, have children, marry her, something like that.” Charlie clarified.

“Don’t know, why are you so interested in it now?”

“I was just wondering about family…do you remember how dad was with mom?” well you didn’t expect to hear a private conversation like this, you looked in the opposite direction, pretending not to hear anything. 

“Yeah Charlie, I remember”

“It makes you think… aren’t you afraid to reproduce yourself? you aware that our father was crazy and that his rotten blood runs in our veins” you frowned, it was a very dark thing to say.

“Our father was drinking Charlie.”

“Touché. It’s the gift he left us, this rotten blood, that’s why we’re good at what we do.” he finished, going ahead, to be alone for a bit, it seemed he had been very affected by his father’s behavior.

“Is he alright?” you couldn’t help but ask to his brother who sighed in return.

“It’s complicated but since…he has never been the same.” briefly explained Eli, he didn’t want to say too much and you understood, just like your relationship with your family, none of you were ready to share the full story; when you’ll know each other better perhaps.

In the afternoon you finally reached the next town, it was small but it had everything necessary, with your companions you headed to the post office in the shop.

“Sisters. S.I.S.T.E.R.S like sisters” spelled Charlie, the man seemed to recognize them, suddenly aware to whom he was talking to.

“No, nothing, I would remember.”

“Alright, no news is good news. What’s the next hamlet on the road?” asked Charlie

“Myrtle Creek…”

“How far is it?” you asked, then.

“Two days, at least” you sighed there was still a long way to go, you didn’t like riding for days like that.

“Alright then, we’ll stay here for the night.” declared Charlie.

The three of you decided to do a little bit of shopping in this shop, you went to look for a bottle of Cologne, your current bottle was almost empty. You were never wearing makeup, except for special occasions, however, perfume is something you loved. Nearby was Eli, he was looking through the shelves for something interesting to buy, until it stopped in front of a tooth brush, he looked at the object curiously, he probably didn’t know what it was, it was relatively a new body care item, which reminded you that you should buy another box of powder before it gets empty.

“What is it?” he wondered out loud.

“A tooth brush, with it, your mouth smells good and you have less risk to lose your teeth, I use it all the time! You use this powder too; you should buy one…” you explained to him with a smile.

“Hey, do you have boots?” you heard Charlie ask to the seller, you turned your head to see him wearing a white shirt, seemed like he really like elegant clothes, you quickly turned your head back as he caught you staring at him.

“And for your brother as well.” you advised Eli, before heading to the clothes too, this summer was really hot, you needed new shirts and underwear too. You picked a dark red shirt and two black, should be enough for the whole travel, then you went to the lady’s part for underwear, you took a couple of short panties, easier to wear when riding a horse and even more as you constantly wore pants. Then, your eyes traveled to the bras, here you could enjoy a bit of fantasy, there was even some French lingerie available, they were really good at making pretty things for women; now which one to pick? You wondered. 

“You should take this one.” you jumped at the voice of Charlie; he had approached you silently, he had a small smile and his eyes were mischievous.

“What are you doing here? I don’t remember asking for your opinion.” you retorted annoyed; he chuckled and left without a word, you looked at him leaving, he was so clingy! You looked back at the lingerie, your eyes landing on the one he had suggested, you felt blush coming to your cheeks.

Afterwards, you went to get a room by yourself, the town was small there was no risk of losing the two brothers. You sighed happily as let yourself fall on the mattress, there was nothing like the soft comfort and warmth of a real bed. Your mind traveled to Charlie, he was such a mysterious guy and what happened with his father for him to have such negative view of life as a couple? You took a short nap and after eating at the hotel, you weren´t tired, you felt like staying out for a bit, so you decided to go for a drink at the saloon even if at this time night you might encounter more drunk people than anyone else, worst case scenarios it will end up in a fist fight and you didn’t want to brag but you were good at it. As you entered the saloon, you noticed Charlie drinking at the bar with some men, you headed to an empty table to have your drink peacefully.

“Thanks” you said to the waitress as she gave you a glass of whiskey, you settled your feet on another chair, took a book out of your vest, it was one you had brought from home, Moby Dick, you knew it by heart after reading it over and over and still you always enjoyed it as much.

“Hey…” you raised your eyes from the page you were reading, Charlie had just sat at your table, the way he leaned on his arms indicated he was already very drunk.

“You should go to bed Charlie.” you advised him, going back to your reading.

“Nah I’m not tired…” 

“Hmmm” you hummed doubtfully, if he wasn’t hangover tomorrow either he had a very good tolerance to alcohol or he was lucky.

“Y/N” you ignored him trying to focus on your book “Y/N I want to tell you something…” you sighed, closing your book in frustration, it seems he won’t let you alone tonight.

“What Charlie?” you asked irritatingly. 

“Don’t be angry at me…I don’t like it…” he muttered on a pleading tone like a child. You couldn’t help but release a smile, he was really cute like that. 

“I wanted to tell you…you are a very beautiful lady and…”

“Good evening miss, can I buy you a drink?” interrupted a man as he came accompanied by some of his friend, they were all looking at you with lust in their eyes, shit, this wasn’t going to end well…

“Thanks, but I’m not interested.” you replied annoyed by those constant interruptions.

“Then, maybe you want to get to the most interesting part?” flirted another guy, you rolled your eyes.

“Wait, what did you say asshole?” growled Charlie on a deadly tone, lifting his head to look at the guys in the eyes, he had fire in his, rage even.

“Charlie stay out of this; I don’t need your h-….” 

“Don’t you dare lay your hands on her!” he exploded, suddenly getting up, the tension quickly rising up between the men.

“Come one man…” tried to calm one of the guys, until Charlie drew out his gun and loudly putting it on the table, everyone started to run out in fear, Charlie Sisters was known to be a very good shooter; trying not to stumble, he followed them outside and once outside he started to shoot “Where are you going!?” he yelled.

“Godamnit….” you grumbled; did he really have to that?! 

“C’mon nobody wants to fight Charlie Sisters?! You won’t have her unless you get me first!” you had heard enough, you got out of your chair angrily, you arrived behind him, “nobody really?” he turned as if he was going to shoot until he recognized you.

“Oh, it’s you…I…” you didn’t let him finish and slapped him in the face, he had drunk so much alcohol that he fell heavily on the floor.

“Don’t you dare do that again! I can handle myself; I don’t need your protection and I certainly do not belong to you Charlie Sisters!” you fumed, crouching down next to him. He had lifted his hand on the cheek you had slapped, he wore an expression of hurt on his face. Which had for effect to instantly dissipate your fury. 

“Come on let’s get you back to your room” you sighed, feeling pity for him, you helped him back up, putting his arm over your shoulder while you put yours around his waist. The worst part was probably climbing the stairs, he always fell down, his full weight making you fall too. You finally managed to arrive at his and Eli’s bedroom, as you opened the door you realized that Eli was awake, probably due to the gunshots. You lied down Charlie on the mattress.

“I’m sorry…Y/N forgive me…” he started to apologize, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“It’s okay Charlie, sleep now.” you replied on a soft tone to sooth him, he tried to catch your hand but missed it as his head was spinning. 

“Stay with me…” he asked you, you did your best to hide your surprise.

“Goodnight Charlie, goodnight Eli” you saluted them both before heading to your room. You were not as tired as you expected to be but there was nothing else to do here, an empty saloon without music and people chatting was uninteresting to you. And Charlie’s behavior had you thinking, the way he had flirted with you, how possessive he got a few minutes ago, was it only because you were a woman? was there any risk he tried something while you slept? Or was it his usual way of acting around women? And he was so inclined to anger and violence, what happened to him? This question was more present in your mind each day. You sighed as you finished washing your body, the trip to get to Morris was going to be interesting. 

The next morning

“Can he hold the saddle?” you asked Eli as you watched Charlie struggling to get on his horse.

“Yes. I. Can.” grumbled Charlie as he finally managed to get on his horse. You sighed; you had several hours of lateness due to Charlie’s state, if it kept going like this, you were going to have several days of lateness. Today, the ride was silent, Charlie was half asleep while Eli seemed truly fed up by his brother attitude, you speed a bit your horse to arrive next to Eli.

“Hey, is he always drinking this much?” you asked with a hint of worry, Eli sighed.

“Yeah…Charlie has a drinking problem…” he admitted, looking down at his hands.

“Is it because of your father?”

“In a sense I guess; he started drinking after…what happened. To forget or…I don’t know…”

“I understand.” you answered, you knew the family could wound deeply.

“You do?”

“Opium for a bit. I… was addicted to it because of my bad situation with my family; until I realized it wouldn’t make my life any better.” you confessed, embarrassment surging back.

“I’m sorry to hear that Y/N…Charlie doesn’t understand it, he doesn’t fight it, he just let it happen as if he didn’t care about dying” explained Eli in a low voice with a hint of sadness ‘probably because there’s nothing worth of interest in his life, not even his brother’ you thought sadly. You were pushed out of your thoughts by the sound of something falling, both you and Eli turned your head to realize Charlie had fell of his horse. 

“Oh Charlie…” you stopped your horse and got off to help the man back up, Eli followed you.

“Shit, make an effort.” grumbled Eli annoyed.

“Wait…” started Charlie before bending down to throw up, you turned your face away, feeling a bit of anger at his state, he shouldn’t drink this much, he was going to kill himself or it could also lead to failure of the job.

“Come on man, hold on to us” you instructed him as got back up, Eli went to support his other side, then his brother pushed him on the saddle.

“Don’t judge me please sweetheart, there are days where we are stronger than others…” Charlie muttered as he leaned forward on his horse, you took his foot and placed it in the stirrup while Eli did the same on the other and went back to his horse. You stayed a bit longer and placed your hand on his thigh as an encouragement, you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. To this, he turned a bit his head to meet your eyes, he was exhausted, emotionally, you hoped he saw that you understood how he could feel. 

Two days after, you had arrived in Myrtle Creek, you simply rested a few hours there, just the time to wash yourselves and Charlie didn’t need to get drunk again. You and Charlie grew accustomed to each other, he wasn’t on the defensive anymore with you. You had 4 days lateness behind them now, and if you were going fast enough, you could get to this Herman in Jacksonville. The locals indicated you a shorter path through the mountains, making you gain 2 days, the way was hard, and the weather wasn’t helping, there was mist and it was humid. So, you were glad when you settled in for the night, a nice fire could only help, but first you had to change your shirt, it was damp and you needed to put a warmer one for the night in those mountains. So, you got up, staying close to the fire so you wouldn’t get too cold and took off your shirt.

“Oh, sorry! I’m going to give you some privacy.” Eli exclaimed as he turned his back to you, you chuckled amused at how prudish he was.

“No worries Eli, it’s just underwear nothing shocking.” you commented with a grin.

“Perhaps not to you but for a man like me…”

“Shshhhhhh let her Eli!” scolded Charlie throwing a cloth at his brother, he wasn’t going to complain, on the contrary, he was looking at you, shamelessly detailing your curves, it was a very pleasant sight for him apparently.

“Oh, you bought the one I recommended you in the end.” he grinned; you looked down at your bra, ‘shit’ you had forgotten about that.

“Yes, I did, you have good taste” you played as if you didn’t care about his comment, however you could hide the blush coming to your cheeks. 

“Indeed…suits you veryyy well…” he purred, his eyes caressing the curves of your body, he could feel heat coming to the lower part of his body; you actually felt flattered he was so interested in you, although it might just be carnal, at least that’s what you told yourself. You put your new shirt on and gave him an annoyed look. His eyes didn’t leave you for the rest of the evening, you simply ignored him, as long as he wasn’t touching you, you were fine with it.

That night you were the last one to go to sleep, you were on guard, it was the mountains there could be a bear or puma around. Suddenly you heard the sounds of crying, you frowned, who was crying? Eli who was trying to sleep, straighten up and looked at you, which meant Charlie crying, you gave him a confused look with a hint of worry, so he got up went to his little brother to comfort him, it seems he was crying while sleeping. 

“Charlie, Charlie…” he said softly, caressing his brother’s forehead.

“Booo!” exclaimed Charlie, you rolled your eyes, it was a prank.

“You idiot…” cursed Eli.

“I thought you were gonna kiss me!” joked Charlie between laughers then he made kissing noises and you lost it, that was a funny one. 

“Fuck you, the both of you.” grumbled Eli as he got back under covers.

“Good one Charlie.” you complimented as you laughed.

“Thank you, my lady!” replied Charlie on exaggeratedly courteous tone. Eli finished by joining your giggles. This moment made you fall asleep with a smile on your face, you were truly starting to appreciate your partners.

“Eli, wake up” you called the man as you packed your belongings.

“I don’t feel so good…” he murmured, you quickly came to his side and saw that his face was swollen.

“Charlie…” you called as worry grew in your chest.

“What? Oh shit, you should see your face, what happened?” asked Charlie trying to hide his worry.

“He probably got stung by something, a spider maybe” you deduced.

“It’s all swollen, your neck too…you look like, you know those big mutts, the Mastiffs.” he joked, chuckling a bit, you pinched your lips together trying not to laugh.

“Fuck off I’m sick.” your fun instantly stopped; it was a serious matter.

“Here sit up” instructed Charlie as he gave his brother his flask of water, Eli was shaking like a leaf.

“Can you ride your horse?” asked the younger one as he got up to continue preparing the horses.

“It’s freezing…” muttered Eli shaking, laying down once again to warm up under the covers. Worry grew even more in your chest, either it was going to pass or it was going to get worse. You went to talk to Charlie about it.

“Hey, Charlie.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea, he should rest…” you tried but he cut you off.

“We can’t afford that, we’re already late.” you sighed frustrated you wanted to tell him that if he didn’t get drunk, you wouldn’t be so late, but you knew this would only make him pissed and on the defensive, that would only hurt the already fragile team cohesion. You were pushed out of your thoughts by Charlie’s hand on your arm, it was the first time he touched you, you didn’t know why but it made you feel strange, it wasn’t unpleasant, it just sent tingles all over your body.

“Hey, don’t worry for him sweetheart, he’s strong.” he reassured you before heading to his brother and help him up. 

To make things worse, the weather got terrible, it was raining heavily the whole day and there was thunder too, the terrain was getting dangerous and slippery, and the horses were very nervous, you often looked behind you at Eli, he could barely ride his horse, from times to times you called him to make sure he was still responding. After several hours, the horses were getting tired of climbing the mountain in such conditions, you suggested Charlie to stop for the night, and thankfully he agreed. Under the rain you helped him build a shelter with a tarp while Eli was leaning against a tree, struggling not to fall. Then his brother came to help him lie down under the shelter, putting covers on him. 

You were sitting down not far away, looking around, watching over the camp. Charlie came to sit down next you. 

“I’m tired Charlie…” you heard Eli.

“I know.” his brother answered, this time his tone was gentle, caring.

“Very tired…”

“You can sleep, I’m here.” added Charlie softly; this seemed to instantly relax his brother who fell asleep within a few seconds, you were alone with Charlie now, not that you minded, you enjoyed his company, his goofiness when he was in the mood for it.

“If you need to rest, I can watch other the camp.” you offered to Charlie.

“It’s fine, I’m not tired for now.” he replied on the same tone. You didn’t speak for the following hour, busy with your own thoughts. However, after one more hour, you started to feel cold, the humidity was so high, you felt like you were soaked to the bones, it started with shivers and then you couldn’t hide your chattering teeth and sniffles. Charlie turned his head to look at you.

“Are you okay?” he asked you, a slight frown forming on his face.

“Just…fucking cold…” you confessed your voice trembling.

“Come here.” offered Charlie lifting his cover up and putting his arm around your shoulder

“What are you doing?” you demanded, suddenly feeling suspicious, he rolled his eyes at your reaction.

“Listen sweetheart, if you wanna freeze to death that’s your own problem, I’m just offering you to get warmer” he explained in an annoyed tone; to be honest you weren’t against a bit of warmth, so you scooted closer to him, your shoulder against his, he rearranged the cover you had around the both of you.

“Here that’s better.” he said out loud, and it felt nice, the warmth was gently starting to wrap around you, it was so agreeable that your eyelids started to feel heavy, your head falling forward, you were struggling to stay awake.

“You can sleep, I’ll watch over you.” offered Charlie, his voice was soft almost caring. You didn’t need to hear more and under the fatigue, without thinking, you laid your head on his collarbone, his arm around your shoulder could only encourage you to lean against him. As you fell asleep you didn’t notice him turning his head to look at you asleep against him, he could fully admire the delicate features of your face, gently he stroked your arm with his thumb. It felt very nice to hold you, he actually wished he could do it more, he liked your presence, it was soothing…

What was that noise? You wondered in the middle of the night, you groggily opened your eyes, it was still the night but the horses were agitated, feeling more awake you realized something was wrong, Charlie had fallen asleep too, his head resting against yours; then you heard grunts ‘shit a bear’ you realized. You had to wake up Charlie too, you could hear the animal getting closer, it probably wanted to eat the horses. As silently as possible you tried to wake him up. You lifted your head and your hand went to his cheek, gently tapping it.

“Charlie wake up, wake up!” you murmured a few inches from his face, his eyes finally shot open, you quickly put your hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t talk too loud, he looked at you expectantly, he was surprised to have his face so close to yours, you mouthed ‘bear’ to him and he instantly understood and nodded at you, you took off your hand from his face and reached for your gun, just like him. Silently you both got up and tried to distinguish in the dark where was the animal, until you heard one of the horses scream, it was attacking them, you both ran towards the horses and saw its shape, Charlie shot first, wounding the animal in the shoulder then the side, you briefly saw the giant teeth of the animal and shot, the animal fell down, lifeless, you had managed to aim for the head. You and Charlie were panting, the adrenaline pumping through your veins, you went to calm down the horse, the one of Eli was wounded at the face, the animal was probably going to lose the use of its left eye and maybe its life if the wound gets infected. Once you had cleaned the wound, you went back to where you had been sleeping, you realized that Eli didn’t even react, he was in a very deep sleep. However, you knew you will stay awake until daylight, just like Charlie.

The atmosphere got suddenly awkward as you met Charlie’s eyes, you were both aware you had slept snuggled against the other, and you wanted to go back in his warm embrace but it would be…weird. So, you got back to your place, leaving a few inches between you and Charlie, wrapping your own cover around you, he did the same, staying silent.

“You okay?” you still asked him without looking at him, ‘he could have been wounded by the animal’ you thought.

“Hm? Oh yeah…yeah, fine.” he replied awkwardly, and that was it, you stayed this way until the morning, you had convinced Charlie to wait a bit to wake up Eli, until he couldn’t wait more, and he was right, you had to leave. As you prepared breakfast, from the corner of your eyes, you saw Charlie take off his shirt, laying it down on a tree branch to make it dry a bit under the rays of the Sun, you redirected your attention to the meal, it was just a torso, why did it distract you? 

“It’s ready.” you announced out loud, serving the food in Charlie’s plate, he came to stand in front of you, of course he was still shirtless, you stared at him, detailing his torso, he was well built, especially his arms, and he had a little tummy, which honestly kinda made you fall for him.

“It’s just a torso, nothing shocking.” he teased you with a smirk, making you realize you had been staring, pronouncing the exact words you had used before; blush creeped on your cheeks as you gave him his plate, why where were you so distracted by anything he did or said suddenly?! 

“Thanks…for waking me up.” he spoke, you finally looked at him in the eyes, they were glowing with…affection? No, he was merely being thankful, fatigue was playing with your mind. Thankfully, Eli broke out the awkwardness by waking up, coughing blood, his face wasn’t swollen anymore, you were relieved he felt better. 

“Feeling better?” asked his brother, Eli he got up and noticed, the giant bear.

“What happened?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Well, this guy came into our camp during the night, your horse got wounded, it rushed on your horse.” Eli rushed to check on his horse.

“It’s Y/N who woke me up.” added Charlie as he ate his plate.

“I heard the horses getting scared, trying to break free.” you explained, feeling sorry for his horse.

“Shitty night…” muttered Charlie, it was true, you didn’t get much sleep, but the beginning of the night was nice, at least for you…snuggled against him…

“I dreamt about dad last night…” said Eli with a tired voice.

“Damnit that’s the icing on the cake! I’m tired of this place.” growled Charlie suddenly angry. “It smells like death, everything is soaked, fuck…let’s go”.

You quickly left the place, eager to reach Jacksonville and sleep in a dry and warm place. Of course, when you reached the city, there was no time to rest, the priority was to get to Morris and Herman.

“So, how do we operate for Warm?” asked Eli

“As usual, Morris give us Warm and we finish the job” replied Charlie as he loaded his gun.

“Ready?” he asked looking at his brother, then at you, you nodded fastening your belt around your hips.

“Watch the back, and you Y/N you wait the main entrance in case he tries to run away.” he instructed, you want to place yourself at the entrance, looking all around for any suspects, your hand on your gun, ready to shoot.

“They’re not here!” you heard Charlie scream; your eyes widened at the news.

“What!?” you exclaimed, how’s that possible!

“They left the town 4 days ago! Fuck!” fumed Charlie. You joined him upstairs, Morris had left a note, which Charlie asked you to read, as he didn’t how to read.

“He’s lying” you commented, this all story of he ran away from me was too easy.

“Who the hell is he kidding!? This asshole, who the hell is he kidding!?” exploded Charlie, passing a hand through his hair. He headed to the bar downstairs.

“We should continue until Mayfield, that’s part of the contract” you advised determined to do your job.

“She’s right and fuck, the job is to kill Warm wherever he is!” answered Charlie frustrated, he was right, otherwise none of you would get paid.

“Don’t speak so loud” warned his brother and he was right, who knows if they had partners here in the bar.

“I don’t give a fuck where they are, we find him and shoot him” insisted Charlie as he drank his whisky.

“When are we gonna go home?” asked Eli, he was tired of running after Herman, it left you a bit confused, it was part of the job, why was he undedicated to his job? 

“We will go home, once the job is finished Eli” replied Charlie irritated

“Charlie´s right, it´s a matter of reputation, we have to finish the job whatever it takes.” you supported him. 

“I feel like they’re getting farther and farther from us…how much time did we stay in the forest?” wondered Eli out loud.

“Between your notorious bad luck and your illness, we didn’t save time, that for sure.” you almost choked on your drink and went to sip your drink a few feet from them, you knew they were going to argue.

“What? Say that again? You’re saying it’s my fault!?” started the older brother.

“Yeah kinda, no?” asked innocentely Charlie, was he actually serious or did he just pretend?

“Want me to talk about how you got drunk over and over!? Huh? That doesn’t waste time huh! the days when you can’t even hold your saddle anymore or the other morning where you vomited on yourself! My bad luck, fuck you Charlie!” denounced Eli, that was a nasty shot, but the truth nonetheless, the two brothers separate, leaving you alone in the saloon. You finished your drink and decided to go after the younger brother, you found him in a back alley nearby, smoking a cigarette. 

“Hey Charlie.”

“What!” he snapped when his eyes landed on you, he seemed to calm down a bit.

“I know how it feels…” you started softly, he scoffed, exhaling the smoke in his lungs.

“When we drown ourselves in alcohol or drugs because of our families…”

“I doubt you know anything about it” he sneered.

“I became addicted to opium because of them. But then I realize it won´t change what happened and stopping this shit helped me to feel better.” you explained truthfully, hoping to make him react.

“What just because you wanted to live like a man?” this comment hurt you more than you expected, he didn´t have the right to say that, he didn´t what they did to you. You clenched your jaw, swallowing back tears that had formed in your eyes and turned on your heels to leave, you needed another drink after all. 

“Fuck, Y/N I’m sorry” he called you softly, you turned your head and gave him a sad smile, shaking your head, he will never learn to let himself be vulnerable.

“Forget it.” you told him as you left him, it will make him think.

The very same day you left for Mayfield, you ‘ll only spend one night camping and the day after you should arrive in Mayfield. The ride was silent, you and Eli were angry at Charlie for his condescending attitude. Eventually in the evening the two brothers started to talk to each other again, but you didn´t speak to Charlie, he had hurt your feelings when you thought you could open up to him and in return, he would accept your help. Still, Charlie tried to talk to you several times to break the ice. But it didn´t work you were decided to make him think about it the whole night.

As the morning came. Charlie was the first awake, he had had a shitty night, turning over and over in his bunk. He didn´t like when you didn’t pay attention to him, when you refused to talk to him; he had thought about it and had realized he had assumed what you had been through, now he wanted to make it up to you. So, he started to make breakfast, to the smell Eli started to wake up, as for you, you were still asleep. So slowly, he approached you to wake you up, he picked a long herb on the floor, crouching down in front of you and started to tickle your nose with the herb, he had a playful grin. Eli smiled because he knew his brother was starting to have feelings for you, still he warned him: 

“Charlie…don’t be silly, remember what she…”

You wake up startled and out of reflex punch him in the face, you didn’t expect to find a man so close to you while you were sleeping.

“Ow fuck!” he growled in pain, you realized too late you had strongly punched him in the nose, even though he kinda deserved it after yesterday.

“What were you doing so close to me Charlie!? I warned you Charlie, since the first day!” you panicked, now you were feeling more sorry than angry, you had punched him without thinking, and now his nose was bleeding.

“I was waking you up gently!” he explained as if his feelings were hurt; did he really? 

“Apologize to Y/N, Charlie” said Eli to his brother, Charlie looked at his brother with wide eyes, a funny betrayed expression on his face.

“What? I’m the one with a bleeding nose here! I was being nice!” he protested.

“It will teach me to want to be nice to you! Fuck.” he mumbled, angrily leaving to go to the river, to clean away the blood from his face. 

His brother gave you a look like ‘you should go see him’, you rolled your eyes and went after Charlie. You found him crouched down on the bank of the river, trying to wash away the blood but he hissed as his fingers touched a bit to roughly his nose. He didn´t look at you as you crouched down next to him, you took out of your pocket a handkerchief you had, dampening it in the cool water, then gently you took his chin between your fingers, making him turn his head to look at you, his eyes didn´t meet yours, he was embarrassed about yesterday; very gently you started to clean away the blood from his face, your thumb sometimes brushing against his lips, under the pretext of getting rid of the blood, you could shamelessly look at his face, there was no point in denying that he was a beautiful man and you knew that in there somewhere, there was also a sweet and caring man, you had briefly seen if before.

“I´m sorry, about yesterday…I spoke without thinking” he apologized softly.

“I know, but it still hurt.” you replied focusing yourself on cleaning away the blood.

“Sometimes I wish I didn´t drink, but…it feels good you know?” he finally confessed; he was looking at you in the eyes now, he had this look, just like a child wanting to be understood. 

“I know, but you also know that each time it is a brief relief and that´s why you start again and again but trust me there are some things in this world that could bring you peace.” you had finished cleaning the blood away but your hand remained on his cheek, your thumb gently stroking it, Charlie swallowed down, his eyes traveling to your lips.

“Like what?” his question barely coming out as a whisper as brought his face closer to yours. You wanted to kiss him, you realized just now that you had fallen in love with him; so, you leaned in, his lips were now only a few inches from yours… 

“Hey! We should go!” you both jumped at the calling of Eli, now you were blaming him for interrupting you, you turned to Charlie but he was already up.

“He´s right we´re already late enough.” he said like nothing had happened, avoiding your gaze once again, you wished he said something like ´I care about you’ or ´we´ll take about this later´ or just a simple touch on your arm, but nothing, he headed back to the camp without looking back at you. 

“Well done, Eli…” you muttered as you passed next to him.

“What did I do?” he asked dumbfounded, then he saw the look on your face, how you looked at Charlie “Oh, I interrupted something didn´t I?” you lowered your looking at the reigns of your horse.

“Sorry” he apologized, you lifted your hand in the air, indicating him that he didn’t do it on purpose.

You finally arrived in Mayfield at the end of the day, the ride had been better than you had thought, the Sun was warm and a cool breeze was blowing. 

“You think this guy came here because it’s called Mayfield? Or is it called Mayfield since he’s here?” asked Eli impressed by how, the name was on every door.

“I think this guy is so arrogant that he named the city after himself” you commented looking around.

“Yeah, maybe everything here belongs to him” added Charlie.

“Yeah we can see his name everywhere” observed his brother.

The three of you entered the bar, you leaned your back against the counter, your elbows resting on it as you looked at the people around. 

“Hi, we’re looking for a guy named Warm, small, tanned skin, he might have come here a few days ago” inquired the older brother.

“I don’t know sir” answered shyly the barman.

“Oh really, and a man, tall, dark hair, in his forty’s?” insisted Charlie.

“I don’t know sir; I don’t want to be involved in this…” replied the man with fear in his eyes.

“Oh, you don’t wanna be involved in this…give us whisky” snarled Charlie irritated. 

“Regular or Mayfield?” you turned your head, arching an eyebrow at the barman.

“Really?” you asked, boy this Mayfield was narcissistic.

“Regular. A bottle, three glasses.” clarified Charlie. From the corner of your eyes you saw a very tall woman approach.

“I heard you’re looking for someone, usually people come to me to know what’s going on” Charlie laughed in disbelief at the tall women before him.

“And you are?” you asked intrigued taking a sip of your drink.

“Mayfield” you fully turned to the woman; Eli took his hat off.

“Hey sweetheart, looks like you have another female living like you” replied Charlie sarcastically, you threw him an annoyed look.

“My partners and I are looking for Herman Warm, a small man, tanned skin, we think he came here 5 o 6 days ago” repeated Charlie, the woman seemed to think for a bit. 

“Warm? No, never seen him” you sighed, they have to be somewhere, they didn’t disappear like that.

“Is he a friend of yours?” she asked, you and Charlie scoffed.

“He owes our employer, the commodore, in Oregon city…we’re the Sisters brothers and Y/N.” he bragged, you rolled your eyes, he should be more careful, you didn’t who’s this Mayfield, maybe a very powerful woman with hundreds of henchmen at her service.

“Delighted gentlemen, how much time are you staying here?” you squinted your eyes at this question, she was very curious, even if she was the one in charge of the town.

“Well it depends…” started Charlie, you were already late enough, didn’t need to stay here for more time. 

“We leave tomorrow, at dawn” Eli took the words right out of your mouth.

“It depends.” repeated Charlie as he saluted the prostitutes upstairs. You frowned, was he really considering their services after your almost-kiss a few hours ago?! You followed them upstairs, you were probably overreacting. 

“What’s wrong with you? Telling every about your life, the commodore, the Sisters brothers.” scolded Eli

“Oh, come on, didn’t you see how the lady was honored to see us? And I like to see if our reputation precedes us. Unlike you brother, I’m proud of what I do.” you sighed soundly; Charlie was starting to seriously annoy you.

“Pffff” 

“Pfffff what does that mean?” asked Charlie to his brother ready to fight back.

“It means I know what’s gonna happen tonight, you’re gonna drink like crazy and tomorrow you’ll hella sick” Eli was right, you should be already on your horses.

“You forget one small detail, I’m gonna fuck like a rabbit!” declared excitedly Charlie before continuing his way up, Eli didn´t say anything but he looked at you confused. You clenched your jaw when you heard this.

“Another damn day…” you muttered irritatingly, unless he had been speaking about you which you were pretty sure he wasn´t… 

“Don’t pay attention to him lady’s, he’s old and boring!” flirted Charlie with the prostitutes, god you were so furious at him.

As you expected, it was barely dark outside that Charlie was already drinking, surrounded by a bunch of women. You sighed, leaning against the counter next to Eli.

“I don’t trust this Mayfield, there’s something weird” you spoke, she had a weird attitude.

“You think? What I think is that Charlie better not mess up cause they’re all armed in here.” answered Eli, you scoffed before taking a sip of your drink. 

“I couldn’t care less right now…” you muttered, anger in your voice.

“I thought you liked h-…oh, is it because of the girls?” you didn’t answer but you clenched your jaw at the thought of him with these women.

“He’s an idiot.” you released a smile, that he was…

You refused to go near Charlie in the following hours, you were angry at him, you thought there was something between the two of you, bullshit. 

“Hey bro! Joining the party? Where are you going?” you could tell by his voice that Charlie state of drunkenness was already quite advanced, from the corner of your eyes you saw Eli go to a woman, then away upstairs; now you were all by yourself, like you had been your whole life…

Then, you saw Charlie, go upstairs with two girls, you couldn’t hold it anymore and angrily left the saloon, you needed some fresh air, you were having trouble to breath, angry tears were now running down your cheeks. You decided to go for a walk in the town, you needed to clear your mind. You settled on the stairs of the house, and plunged into your mind for several minutes, an hour maybe. Until your eyes got distracted by several man, they were heading to the saloon, they didn’t look like they were here to party, they were armed, something was wrong, and you felt like it had to do with your job, you had to go tell the brothers. But several of them were posted at the entrance of the saloon, you couldn’t take them all by yourself, you needed to help the brothers to get out if they realize what’s happening, you went to hide in a back alley, a fired a shot in the direction, the distraction was working, half of them came in your direction, you could handle that, and you hoped the two brothers would get out safely. 

You hid in the dark as you heard the men approach, you took them down one after the other with your hunting knife, the others couldn’t hear the gun shots. At the same moment you jumped as you heard gunshots being fired, a full fight was happening, you had to join them and help them, as you reached the place, you saw one man running out which you instantly shot dead, at the same moment came out the two brothers, you sighed in relief, they were alive.

“Only arriving now? Where were you?” asked Charlie condescending. 

“Fuck you Charlie.” you snapped, you were not in the mood for his goofiness or whatever that was.

“Woa, woa! You better have a good reason to speak to me this way” he threatened, taking a few steps towards you.

“I will when you’ll stop being a drunkard and an asshole!” you snapped back, he made an insulted face.

“Now what?! What did I do to piss you off?”

“Don´t pretend you don´t know what happened, sweetheart” you sneered, imitating his flirty tone.

“Oh, come one, get a room you two!” interrupted Eli, starting to be really annoyed by your fight.

“Stop saying bullshit Eli!” snapped back Charlie, pointing his finger at him.

“Yeah, who would want to sleep with you anyway, apart from prostitutes… I’m out of this, you can keep my salary” you let out, you were fed up by his attitude.

Charlie watched you go away; he blinked a few times no fully realizing what was happening. 

“Good riddance” he grumbled as he struggled to keep his balance. 

“Charlie, go talk to her.” advised his brother.

“But…” Charlie started to protest.

“Come on, stop acting like a child, I see how you look at her and you know very well it’s mutual; you have a wonderful woman ready to love you and you’re letting her go…she might be your only chance of happiness, don’t miss it Charlie…”

Charlie passed a hand through his hair, he was having a hard time to think, he wanted to continue his job and do whatever he wanted, but you had been so different from the women he met, you had appeased his soul better than any harlot or alcohol…he had to get you back, keep you close to him. He gave one last look to his brother “get Mayfield and wait for us” he instructed before heading in the direction you had went.

You didn´t go far, you had entered in a barn and were sitting on a bunch of straw, you were angry, close to tears, why did you think he could ever feel something for you? You shook your head; you should have never…

“Y/N?” you looked at Charlie, he had managed to find you, why was he coming after you anyway?

“What do you want?” you asked meeting his eyes, he looked less drunk right now. 

“I came to apologize…” he started, you scoffed

“You ´ll have to do more than that this time Charlie.” you got up angrily, you came closer to him, honestly you were so close to beat his ass right now. 

“You want to flirt with me? Fine but don´t pretend to care about me.” admitting openly how you felt. He blinked, not expecting to hear those words; you could bear to look at him right now, you had to go away but he caught you by the arm.

“I do care about you” he admitted, this revelation struck you, but you didn’t want to believe it, surely, he was joking again. 

“Let go of me” you threatened

“Or what?” he challenged suddenly yanking your arm and pinning you to the wall, his arms on each side of your face to block you, your heartbeat increased.

“Careful Charlie, you don´t know what you´re dealing with…” you warned him, reading to fight him

“But I want to!” he replied, you opened and close your mouth several times.

“What?” you asked him confused.

“I want to… I want you to be with me, I want to take care of you just like you do for me.” he clarified; you were still wary but hope started to again to build in your chest.

“Then why did you go to these women?” he sighed, shaking his head, looking away.

“Because… despite how I feel about you, I have my father´s blood running through my veins, he…he was a monster Y/N…” 

“But you have also your mother´s and from what I´ve heard she´s a good person” you rested your hand on his chest.

“Yes, she´s a saint…but it doesn’t mean I´m a good man” he said seriously as if it was a warning, his eyes finally went back to you, you chuckled, your hand coming to the back of his neck.

“Who said I wanted a good man.” you replied with a smirk, forcefully grabbing his hair before crashing your lips on his, he growled at the contact, one of his hands grabbing your back, his tongue quickly came to tease yours, meeting yours in a passionate battle, he tasted like whisky. Then, his mouth started to trail kisses down your jaw then your neck, sucking, nibbling the most sensitive areas which made you moan, how you had longed for this…

“Fuck me” you breathed in his ear, you didn’t have the patience tonight, you wanted him. Right now. He chuckled against your throat. 

“Your wish is my command sweetheart.” he purred, sending shivers down your spine, increasing the heat between your legs. Your hand went to unbutton his shirt, you were finally touching his warm skin, the one you had longed for during the past days. 

Then, you slid your hand between his skin and his shirt until they arrived on his back, where your fingers slowly went down, sliding under the fabric of his pants and undergarment, grabbing his ass, you smirked as he groaned under your touch. He captured your mouth once again, you lifted one leg, trying not to fall as you took off your boots, Charlie helping you, his mouth never leaving yours, then his hand traveled to your lower belly, caressing your spot through the clothes, your arched your body under this teasing touch, you wanted so much more, apparently he wasn´t the only one who couldn´t hold any longer. His fingers were busy unbuttoning your pants, with a gesture of his hand he let your pants and panties slide along your legs, you freed your ankles from them, you quickly unbuttoned his pants, you fingers shaking with arousal, then your hand finding his hard manhood, eagerly stroking it, a needy moan escaped his lips, he couldn´t take it anymore, he grabbed the back of your thighs, encouraging you to wrap your legs around his hips, which you did, holding tight on his shoulders, your back pressed against the wall, then in one sharp thrust he entered you, making you whimper with hunger, his thrust quickly became faster and faster, you were moaning scratching his back as you hold tighter under his rough thrusts, and he groaned pleased at the sounds of pleasure he was getting out of you, until you came, his seed filling your inside. 

He rested his forehead against your collarbone, you placed tender kisses on his temple and his hair then slowly pushed himself out of you, then let go of your legs, you still had to hold onto him, your legs were shaking; Charlie was panting, he lifted his head, resting his left hand on the wall to support himself, his other hand came up to cup your jaw, he made eye contact with you, closing the gap between your lips in a passionate kiss, you closed your eyes at the sweet sensation. You wanted to stay right here, in his arms, but you knew important matters needed to be takin care of.

“Your brother is going to wonder where we are…and we have to make Mayfield pay” you murmured against his ear, gently biting his lobe, you felt teasing, reading for a second round, he chuckled, then his eyes met yours, danger in his eyes, he was thirsty for revenge. 

“Yeah, let’s kick her ass, sweetheart.”


	2. Chapter 2

After getting dressed, the two of you headed to the Saloon where was Eli and Mayfield. Adrenaline still running through your veins, you intended on making her pay, the people here will remember you and the Sisters Brothers.

“Eli!” called Charlie, looking around for his brother.

“Up there!” he answered back, the two of you quickly headed in the direction of his voice, up to the office of Mayfield, as you arrived you noticed that Eli had tied her to a chair, she didn’t seem afraid enough to your taste, wasn’t she aware of their reputation?

“Well, you two took your time!” grumbled Eli, you cleared your throat, images of what had happened in the barn coming back to your mind, a slight blush creeping on your cheeks.

“I had some important things to care of…” smirked Charlie, turning his head to look at you and winking, ‘ _the bastard’_ you gave him a punch in the shoulder, flustered.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed exaggerating, Eli let out a noisy sigh, and he was right, you should be focusing on Mayfield, being lovebirds will be for later.

“So, did she say anything?” asked Charlie, leaning his back against the deck as he looked at Mayfield right in the eyes, but you could see it in her eyes she wasn’t afraid, not yet; she knew some men like Eli couldn’t bring themselves to hit a woman, so you took the initiative, throwing her a punch on the forehead with the grip of your gun, she yelped with a mix of surprise and pain; Charlie whistled pleased by your gesture.

“She doesn’t deserve any special treatment Eli.” you told the older brother, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if she could, so he shouldn’t either.

“Oh my God, Warm told me he was looking for an investor for his prospection business, I didn’t get everything, I took him for an idiot but when I saw Morris, I told myself that if the Commodore was interested, it must have been serious…” Charlie went to sit behind the desk, looking in the drawers for objects of value.

“Did Morris leave a message for us?” asked Charlie.

“No… he traveled with Warm and that’s it.” She answered honestly.

“Oh really…” Charlie gave you and his brother a ‘ _I told you so’_ look, you clenched your jaw, Morris turning is back on you wasn’t of good omen.

“Why did you want to kill us?” you asked her coming to stand next to Charlie, you stood close to him, you hip brushing against his shoulder, any notion of personal space was useless now, you felt Charlie, discreetly move his right arm, his hand coming to caress the back of your thigh, if he wasn’t doing business right now his hand would have went up to your ass, you actually found it quite exciting, to pretend like nothing was happening. With the other hand Charlie opened a music box that was in front of him, the nice lullaby contrasting with the whole situation

“I repeat, after, I start hitting.” threatened your lover.

“When I understood that Warm had something of value, I put my men after them, to bring it back to me…”

“You mean now there’s other guys after Warm?” cut off Eli with a hint of nervousness.

“Alright…very well Mayfield. You’re not gonna like what’s about to follow but that’s the price to pay when we meddle in our business…open your safe.” Ordered her Charlie mischievously.

“No… never.” you saw a sadistic smile form on Charlie’s lips, he truly had a problem with violence but for business you could accept it. So, he got up, his warm hand leaving your body to reach for his gun, he walked around the desk and directly pointed it at Mayfield’s temple, she jumped at the contact of the cold metal against her skin.

“Listen. Tell us how to open your safe or my partner here will blow your brain out with great pleasure.” you threatened her with a confident smile.

“Mayfield…” started Charlie, impatience growing inside him.

“You know…if you die right now, you won’t be just losing your fortune but also everything you’ve built here, your town, your men, your people…” you listed and it seemed to make her think, she was way too arrogant to let her small ounce of power crumble for a couple of objects of value.

“Alright, alright…the code is 7300956.” she finally said, Eli finally managed to open the safe, you smirked, it had been so easy to make her talk, you jumped as Charlie suddenly pulled the trigger.

“Was that really necessary?” you sighed, looking at her lifeless corpse.

“She could have sent other men after us, right Charlie?” replied Eli, his brother nodded as he went to look inside the safe; you nodded too they made sense; as your eyes saw what was inside the safe, you immediately forgot about the little annoyance you had, that Mayfield had gotten herself quite a treasure, with that you could live for several years without having to work!

“I’m gonna get our saddlebags.” you told them, quickly ruining to get this fortune out of the safe before the inhabitants came inside. With the two brothers, you did your best to share equally before heading to your horses.

“Y/N” called Charlie behind you as you were heading downstairs, you turned to listen to what he had to say, he held in his hand a silver necklace, with a small pendant made of diamond, a truly beautiful piece you had to admit.

“It would suit you.” he spoke with affection in his eyes, a small smile formed on your lips as you understood it was a gift from his own share, he put it in your hand and continued his way outside. Apparently public demonstration of affection wasn’t his thing but that, was a very romantic thing which you absolutely loved.

However, you were taken aback as you arrived outside to see the whole town looking at you and the brothers, they probably wanted to know what had happened.

“Find something to tell them.” Charlie said to you and his brother, why wasn’t he saying something?

“Well…something happened, hopefully you’ll be happy about it? And now…your turn to say something Eli” he looked at you, mouth agape, how dared you, you hid a smile, amused. 

“Following a series of dramatic events… for which she bears full responsibility…Mayfield’s dead!” you couldn’t help but chuckle, he had struggled so much to find something better to say.

“No, no! Not like that! Don’t you have something positive to say?” added Charlie as he climbed on his horse.

“Well, please do Charlie!” you replied arching an eyebrow at him.

“My partners and I have good news; you can change the name of your shit town!” he joked. Before giving a quick to his horse, you did the same galloping, in case the people would react badly, from afar you heard music, well apparently, they were happy, at least you did something good today.

You rode until the morning lights, you struggled to stay awake, thankfully your horse followed those of the brothers, you didn’t know how they could stay awake especially Charlie after drinking so much. Once again you felt your eyelids getting heavy, you will close your eyes just for a few seconds, wouldn’t hurt anyone; you didn’t realize your horse slowing down to stop and eat grass. But Eli, felt like something was different he didn’t hear your horse behind; he turned his head to see.

“Hey Charlie…” he started keeping his voice down.

“What?”

“We should stop for a bit; I think she’s tired.”

“Who are talking ab-” your lover stopped talking when he looked in the same direction as his brother, your horse was happily eating grass, while you were fully laying on its neck, soundly sleeping. Charlie let out a soften smile.

“Alright, we have to bury our pay anyway, should be good close to those woods.” he indicated with his index the forest a few hundreds of meters away. Eli went to pick up the reins of your horse to let you sleep. Charlie looked at you tenderly as they got closer to the woods, you were so beautiful when you were asleep, he could see himself wake up next to you every morning.

“Seems like things got settled between the two of you…” insinuated the older brother with a knowing smile.

“Yeah.”

“And?” pushed Eli, he was curious to know what had happened.

“None of your business bro.” answered Charlie avoiding his brother’s gaze.

“Oh really, so you can ask me about the stole I have but I can’t ask you about the woman you’re lovesick about!” argued Eli, annoyed.

“I’m not lovesick.” Objected Charlie irritated, why was Eli so inquisitive right now?!

“Yes, you are. Since you came back from wherever you two where, you have that big goofy grin on your face” Charlie’s hand went up to touch his face, was he being so obvious?! He got down of his horse.

“I don’t have a big goofy grin….” he muttered, taking a tool to start digging a hole to bury his share and answers Eli inquiring on Warm.

While Eli continued to bury his share, Charlie went to you, you were still sleeping on your horse, he rested his arm on the neck of the animal and tenderly looked at your sleepy face, he almost felt bad that he had to wake you up. He quickly verified that Eli wasn’t looking at him, then, gently his thumb went to caress your cheek, you must have been exhausted not to jump awake, or maybe you just trusted them now. You groggily opened your eyes at the touch, you directly met Charlie’s green orbs, he was looking at you tenderly, a small smile playing on his mouth.

“Feels nice.” you murmured your voice hoarse with sleep. Your lover chuckled silently before leaning forward to kiss your lips, how good it felt when he kissed you, you lifted your hand to caress his jaw, however when your tongue went to tease his lips, he broke away from you.

“Not here sweetheart.” he told you, throwing glances at his brother to be sure he didn’t catch him. Frankly you didn’t understand why he wanted to hide your relationship, maybe he feared teasing from Eli but the man was the kindest you had ever met.

“I’ll remember that.” you flirted, rubbing your eyes; he grinned in return.

“C’mon you have to bury your share; I dug a hole for you. Then, we’ll eat and rest for a bit.” He explained, resisting the urge to kiss you again.

“Alright” you straightened up and got off your horse, your balance wasn’t at its best, so Charlie briefly caught you, his hand lingering on your back, you were craving to be in his arms, and he was too.

“Here.” he said gently, handing you a plate full of stew, your fingers touched his, you made eye contact with him, you both froze for a few seconds, the time in”the barn had been way too short, if you could simply kiss him or cuddle with him you’d be happy but Charlie was still reticent to show his affection for you publicly.

As you ate, Charlie kept looking at you achingly, until he couldn’t help but take one of your loose strands of hair to put it behind your ear, you looked at him with a small blush on your cheeks, he gave you a shy smile, you had to admit that it was quite a unique sight, Charlie being shy. On his side Eli hid a knowing smile, he was happy to see his brother care about someone and be tender.

Eli was soundly snoring after eating; and you weren’t against a nap either. Charlie was simply laying down, maintaining his gun. Yeah, a nap with him would be even better, you smirked as you approached him. As you sat down next to him, he watched you curiously. Then, you sat on top of him straddling his legs with yours, he quickly checked that his brother was asleep before smirking, you leaned forward to kiss his lips, he let go of his gun, his hands coming to caress your butt, you deepened the kiss, tasting the tabaco of the cigarette he had recently smoked, you smiled as his tongue joined yours, how bad you wished to go farther, but Eli was there and you were exhausted; at least this could help you to wait for more intimacy, so you broke the kiss and rest your head in the crook of his neck, closing your eyes and sighting happily.

“What- hey I’m not your goddamn pillow!” whispered Charlie grumpily, you chuckled, he didn’t expect that.

“Not my fault if you’re warm and super comfortable…” you murmured, planting a kiss against his throat. He sighed in defeat, when you were asleep, his fingers went to trace circles on your back, it actually felt nice, to feel your heartbeat against his chest, and to have someone caring for him, even though he doubted you would protect him at any cost; maybe all of this was just an affair and when the job will be done, you will leave. He passed a hand on his eyes; he shouldn’t think this way, and in any case, he had a good time with you. 

Of course, when he saw Eli starting to wake up, he pushed you off of him as gently as he could and got up pretending to tend of his horse. You opened you’re eyes groggily.

“What in the-” you muttered; it took you a bit of time to understand that Charlie had again hid his relationship from Eli. You sighed; it had been barely a few hours and it was already pissing you off, it was just his brother, nothing bad.

As you rode again, Charlie was ahead, you saw Eli coming closer to you, he looked upset.

“Did you know about the formula of Warm and the torture?” he asked with hint of anger in his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s also why I was teamed up with you two, torturing a good guy like Warm isn’t my thing, I don’t mind to do it on other criminals but that…I couldn’t, the Commodore knew you wouldn’t mind; well Charlie doesn’t apparently” you looked at Eli, he seemed even more upset now.

“Wait, you mean you didn’t know about this?” you exclaimed, confused; Eli nodded.

“Charlie told me that the Commodore ordered him not to tell me, asshole.”

“It doesn’t make sense…” you wondered, you started thinking, it’s true that Charlie was enjoying violence, too much, he was enjoying killing; the opposite of Eli who only did it when it was necessary; could it be linked to their troubled childhood?

“You think the Commodore is using Charlie’s…trauma for his own ends? Like manipulating your brother?” you asked him in a murmur, worry growing in your chest.

“Well no- wait, now that you’re saying this it would actually make sense…fuck! if I could put a bullet in that bastard´s face right now…” cursed the older brother, hate filling his eyes.

“We’re stuck in this whole thing now; we have to finish the job-”

“But I don’t want Charlie to do this” objected Eli, you sighed, you had to find a way to prevent this from happening.

“And I don’t either. Look, I don’t know the full story but it seems Charlie went through some tough shit and he’s rooted deep into violence but torturing people will only drive him crazy, we have to do everything we can to make Warm talk without having Charlie to torture him.” You said upset.

“We can find a solution and help Charlie.” You appreciated Eli’s optimistic side.

“I hope so…I might sound stupid but I don’t want to lose him…” you confessed, voicing for the first time your feelings for him.

“You don’t sound stupid; you know it’s the first time I see him care about someone else than himself…I’d love it if you became part of the family, I’m sure my mama will love you too” you chuckled, it was a bit early to talk about such thing as marriage but it’s was nice to hear that.

“Thanks Eli, you’re sweet.” You smiled sincerely, looking at him in the eyes.

“Eli! Don’t you have your teacher waiting for you?” called Charlie from afar, looking at the two of you.

“What the hell are talking about Charlie?” you couldn’t help but laugh, was Charlie really being jealous right now? That’s when Eli understood.

“Can’t even talk with my business partner anymore, you idiot.” grumbled the older brother.

And Charlie for the first time started to feel jealous and possessive over you. And he wasn’t able to resist the urge to touch you much longer, he was sick of waiting to be out of sight of his brother, he was an impulsive man, he didn’t like when something or someone resisted to his will. You were so addictive; he had never felt this before, and maybe he feared to lose you to someone else even his brother.

When you stopped for the night. You were all sitting around the fire; he scooted closer to you, his shoulder brushing against yours; he gave his brother a look meaning ‘ _don’t you dare make a comment’_ , Charlie hated to show his vulnerability, he couldn’t be vulnerable just like Eli, otherwise he would have never saved his mother from his dad. Eli shook his head in annoyance, Charlie was being so silly right now.

You were reading your book, and ignored Charlie’s presence, he was too proud or ashamed or whatever it was to show publicly that he was with you; and that upset you more than you imagined.

“Y/N?” he softly called your name; you sighed in frustration.

“What Charlie? Why do you keep interrupting my reading?” it came harsher than you meant it to be, a hint of hurt passed in his eyes.

“Wait, when did I interrupt you before?” you looked at Charlie raising an eyebrow, who was he kidding? But you saw he had a pure look of innocence confusion on his face, he had probably forgotten with the amount of alcohol he had that night.

“Anyway, what do you want?” you asked, not being able to resist him.

“Well I was wondering if you could read that book of yours out loud.” He admitted almost grumpily like he wanted to play bad boys, but he was just being cute.

“Oh yes please Y/N, it would be so nice!” added excitedly Eli.

“Well it’s asked so nicely” you replied sarcastically throwing a quick look at Charlie.

“Thank you” he mimicked his brother, you tried to hide your smile, he was an idiot but an adorable one. Making yourself comfortable against your saddle, crossing your legs, you cleared your throat and started from the beginning of the book.

_“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.”_

You felt Charlie carefully crawling closer to you to finally lay his head on your lap, you briefly stopped reading surprised, but you quickly got back to reading, you wouldn’t want him to go away, even though he came on his own will, you could feel he was on the defensive. As for Eli, he was so happy to see his little brother in love, it gave him hope for their future.

After a bit, one of your hands left your book, so that you could run your fingers through his hair as you continued to read out loud; you particularly loved his hair, thick and soft, Charlie closed his eyes in appreciation, lulled by your voice.

After, Charlie got more comfortable with showing you affection in public and he liked how it showed that you were with him. Every night, when you were camping outside, when Eli had fell asleep, you would hear Charlie shift under his covers until he got up, bringing his bed against yours, then he would lie down next you; you could feel the warmth of his body, his calm breathing, each time for a few seconds he wouldn’t move as if he feared something bad would happen in return; then, gently he would slid his arm around your waist, bringing himself closer to you, his warm breath tickling your neck, sometimes without a word you would simply join your hand with his, entwinning your fingers, the both of you quickly falling asleep afterwards. ****

But most of the time you would turn to face him, looking at him the eyes, you could tell he still felt conflicted about how he cared for you. You never spoke to each other in those moments, the suffering in his eyes was more explicit than any word, you would exchange a few tired kisses, until Charlie would snuggle against your chest, holding you close.

The travel was long, you had to cross mountains and plains, riding from dawn to the night, without encountering any ounce of civilization. You were eager find it again, even a small village would be perfect, especially so far from Oregon City; you had heard so many stories about the new giant cities building on the West Coast, you wondered what it looked like, how the people were dressed, what did they do for fun? Would a woman with your lifestyle be more accepted?

Today you reached the ocean, how splendid it was, it wasn’t your first time seeing it, once for a job further in the north you had reached the ocean to stop some guys to take a boat and flee to Mexico. But it seemed it was the first time for the two brothers, they had stopped their horses on top of the dune, looking at this water as far as the eye could see, they had big happy smiles on their faces, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the sea air. When you reopened them, Charlie was staring at you, his eyes shining.

“Beautiful” he said, you smirked.

“Are you talking about me or the ocean?”

“Both, although I might have a favorite…” he flirted, winking at you, you shook your head in disbelief, he could be so sweet sometimes.

“Sweet talker” you chuckled, before starting to descend the dune on you horse, you rode for the whole day on the beach, enjoying the wind on your face and the sound of the waves; you even decided on camping on the beach for the night, and you couldn’t resist any longer, you were going to go for a swim, nothing better to relax your muscles after days of horse riding. The sunset was truly magnificent, it was the perfect time.

“Wanna come with me for a swim?” you asked the brothers as you got up, taking your hat and boots off.

“In there?!” exclaimed Charlie looking at you as if you were crazy, who knows what creature was under the surface…

“Eli could you turn for a minute please?” you asked the older brother who instantly turned slightly blushing. Charlie watched you as you took off all your clothes, you were fully naked now, his mouth was slightly agape, what a sweet sight it was, it reminded him of that time in the barn, he didn’t have such intimacy with you since then because of the presence of Eli; but now he felt desire rise into him, he couldn’t wait for it to happen again. You smirked at him as you headed into the waves, Eli finally turned catching a glimpse of your bottom as the water reached your hips.

“What a woman…” he marveled.

“Did I tell you that you could look?!” scolded Charlie with jealousy “What are you doing?” he exclaimed as Eli got up, starting to take of his clothes.

“I’m going in, it looks very nice”, he watched his brother getting naked too, he couldn’t believe it, his brother naked and you too, he couldn’t let that happen, you were his and his only.

“C’mon Charlie, the temperature is really nice!” you called him from afar as you were joined by Eli, he was doing little jump, how fun it was to float like this.

“Charlie, come! It’s like flying!” laughed Eli, excited like a kid.

“Goddammit!” he groaned, irritably taking his clothes off, the truth is that he was genuinely scared of going in, but he was too possessive to let you naked with Eli. You laughed as he joined you with a grumpy face, he relaxed a bit when he noticed how easy it was to float, Eli was right, it was fun.

“AAAAH SOMETHING TOUCHED ME!!!” you squealed clinging on Charlies back wrapping your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck.

“What!? Where!?” exclaimed Charlie looking around, securely grabbing your thighs, you pinched you lips together, trying not to laugh.

“She got you!” cackled Eli, understanding you had pranked his little brother; Charlie groaned in exasperation, you planted an apologetic kiss on his shoulder. Before he made you fall in the water laughing with Eli.

That day you really had fun, the three of you playing in the waves like children, laughing, forgetting about anything else, and you loved seeing Charlie smile, those genuine smiles of happiness were so rare compared to his sadistic ones. You hoped that it was helping him to realize that life by your side could bring him satisfaction. Eli was the first one to get out of the water, he wished he could have stayed more but he started to feel cold. You and Charlie stayed a bit more. Charlie was looking at you with a happy smile, and as if he wanted to tell you something but something refrained him from doing so.

“What is it?” you asked trying to get him to talk.

“Nothing. I’m just glad to be here” he answered briefly avoiding your gaze with shyness ‘ _with you’_ he added in his mind, he didn’t know how good it felt to hear him say this, you had never heard a man say such thing to you since you started your new life, you caressed the back of his head.

“You make me happy too, Charlie” he swallowed down at your words before closing the gap between the two of you.

Each day that passed you were more in love with him, he had this vulnerability, this sweetness that you wanted to fully unveil. Sometimes you wondered if you were attracted to him because he was as broken as you, but if you could make each other happy, then it was a good thing.

When you both went back on the beach, you felt teasing. Eli had his back turned to give some intimacy. Charlie had put his pants back on and was looking for his shirt.

“Now, where’s my-” he stopped when he realized you were wearing it with a proud smile, how nice it was to see you wear his clothes.

“I need my shirt back sweetheart.” He spoke, trying to hide how pleased he was at this vision.

“Then come and get it” you teased, he smirked and slowly approached you, looking at you like a predator would on its prey and damn that was arousing. When he was close to you, he started to undo each button, pleasantly realizing you were fully shirtless under it, his fingers came to caress your nipples, how he craved to taste them, he chuckled capturing your lips once more as he took his shirt off of you.

“Hey, I’m still here you know.” muttered Eli embarrassed by the sounds of kissing behind his back. You broke the kiss, he was right, the poor man had to bear this.

“Sorry Eli” you giggled, looking for your own clothes.

The rest of the night went by in a good atmosphere, Eli and Charlie even singing bawdy songs around the campfire, and this time you were in Charlie’s arms, settled between his legs, your back resting against his chest, sharing a cigarette.

That night Charlie wanted more than just cuddles and kisses with you, you had spent your time teasing him today after all. And you wanted it, but Eli was still there, you didn’t want him to see or even hear. Then, you felt Charlie’s hand slide in your pants and underwear to settle between your legs, you felt goosebumps form on your skin, you wiggled your hips, you had missed his touch so much, you didn’t want to resist, you wanted to give him, and give yourself to Charlie once again.

“Don´t worry he´s asleep” he murmured against your ear, feeling your worry. You closed your eyes as he nibbled your earlobe, you will do your best to muffle your moans of pleasure and not awake Eli.

“Charlie…” you moaned, feeling his hard manhood against your butt, you both wished you had been alone, you will have to pleasure each other in another way in the meantime. You turned to face him, sliding your hand beneath his shirt to feel his warm skin, he needily exhaled under your touch before taking possession of your mouth; as his tongue caressed yours, his hand went you massage your breast, his fingers teasing your nipples, earning a few hushed moans from you.

Your hand traveled down his pants, taking his erection in your hand, he growled realizing how hungry for your touch he had been and even more as you started to slowly move up and down. His hand went back between your legs, teasingly caressing your folds, you nuzzled closer to Charlie, closing your eyes in delight.

Your movements became faster and faster, Charlie’s forehead against yours, mingling your rapid breathing, trying to conceal your moans of pleasure.

“Y/N…I’m gonna come…” panted Charlie against your lips, he increased his circling around your clitoris making you cry out in pleasure, forgetting how quiet you tried to be. You and your lover soon reached climax, muffling it each other’s mouth. Charlie kept you in his arms the whole night, often planting tender kisses on your face; sometimes he wondered if all this was just a dream, and if not, he hoped your presence by his side will never cease.

The next morning as you departed from the beach in the direction of San Francisco; you noticed that Eli was sleepy, his eyes closing and opening, constantly yawning on his horse, and his brother noticed it too.

“What’s wrong, had a bad sleep?” he asked, thinking Eli might have had nightmares again.

“How did you want me to sleep after the noises you two made last night…” he grumbled with irritation. You were blushing so much as you understood what he implied, gosh you felt so embarrassed that he had to witness that and for once Charlie felt a bit awkward too.

“You told me he was sleeping!” you kicked his calve with your foot, he chuckled at your embarrassment.

“Well he was! It´s not my fault if you’re the noisy type!” your mouth formed an ‘o’ you were outraged at his comment.

“Of course it´s your fault! you´re the one who made me go noisy!” you realized too late what you had said, now Charlie had big goofy grin on his face, and now Eli was laughing his ass off, you rolled your eyes and sped your horse to go ahead of the two brothers.

_San Francisco_

“Fuck me it’s Babylon here!” exclaimed Charlie in wonder as he looked at the giant city full of life in front of him.

“Amazing…” you breathed looking at the buildings and the lights, and there were so many people around you that you could lose yourself in a few seconds. Speaking of which, people had passed between you and the brothers; Charlie had realized that too and was now pushing past them to get back to you.

“Hey, wouldn’t want to lose you sweetheart” said Charlie, relief washing over his face as he reached to grab your hand so he wouldn’t be separated from you again.

“If we find Warm, no need to look for a quiet corner, there’s none.” Commented Eli in wonder.

“Who gives a fuck! We can kill anyone we want. Look at them, all busy doing something!” replied Charlie with excitement.

Then, you stopped in front of a grand building, chic people wearing costumes at the latest trend of Europe, so many lights inside, crystal chandeliers, what a place.

“An hotel?” you wondered, you had never seen such a big building and so well decorated.

“Let’s go.” Said Charlie not even bothering to hide his excitement; you had to admit it was very tempting, a once in a lifetime experience.

“Must be very expensive.” Commented Eli, this time you agreed with your lover, Eli should loosen up a bit.

“Exactly.” Replied his brother already marching towards the entrance.

“Let’s have a bit of fun Eli! And we all deserve some nice place like this after what we’ve been through!” you added excitedly, hurrying to catch up your lover.

“Here are the water-closet, the bathroom with warm running water and finally your bedroom gentlemen; miss, yours is right here in front of theirs.” The suite was so well decorated and all fancy, it was just like a house for a family, you had never seen such thing before! You squealed as you entered your bedroom, letting yourself fall on the mattress, smiling at how soft it was, you couldn’t wait to get yourself in those soft and warm sheets.

As Eli went directly to the bathroom to take a warm bath, all excited to try warm running water; you felt Charlie’s gaze on you, you lifted your head to realize he was leaning against the doorframe looking at you with a tender smile.

“I hope you don’t plan on staying in your room the whole night…” you flirted, he smirked in return, leaving his spot to join you on the bed, taking off his hat and coming on top of you, his fingers caressed your face, his thumb brushing over your lips.

“Your wish is my command, sweetheart.” He replied with a smirk before capturing your lips, you buried your fingers in his hair, closing your eyes, his touch was intoxicating, each time you yearned for more and feared that all of this was just a fling.

When the time for dinner came, you all dressed nicely for the fancy restaurant of the hotel. It was your first time wearing a dress in years, it felt strange, and you were nervous about Charlie’s reaction. You knew he was going to like it, but you feared he might want you to stick with this type of outfit. When you came out of your room both brothers stopped talking and looked at you with their mouth slightly open.

“What? I’m not the first woman you see wearing a dress.” You joked uneasy at the attention you were getting. Charlie snapped out of his trance and took your hand in his to kiss it in a very gentlemanlike way.

“You’re beautiful.” He added softly; you detailed his appearance and he looked dashing with his hair perfectly slicked back, his black and red outfit that highlighted his warm tan and green eyes.

“Thank you, Charlie. You are quite a sight yourself.” You replied looking at him in the eyes, he smirked pleased at your compliment. “Very elegant too Eli.” He smiled shyly, bowing his head at you. You took your lover’s arm as he escorted you at the dining hall.

“But don’t expect me to wear this every day.” You informed him, leaning closer to his ear. He chuckled in return.

“No matter how gorgeous you are looking at the moment, I enjoy you daily outfit too; nothing better than a pants and shirt to highlight your curves…” he smirked, throwing you a glance full of lust, you chuckled, relieved he liked you the way you were.

“A little comfort in a moment of uncertainty” sighed Charlie taking a drag of his cigar, you smiled, it was true, that this type of place was quite relaxing after weeks on horse and sleeping in the wild.

“You know, I was thinking about something…we could go back to Oregon city, and say we didn’t find them.” Suddenly said Eli, his tone careful. 

“What do we say to the Commodore?” you asked genuinely curious, why did he wanted to drop the job all of a sudden? Because of the conversation you two had?

“The truth. Morris left with Warm, destination unknown. They can’t ask us to find them without any clues to guide us. And we don’t know if Mayfield’s men didn’t catch them already…” he explained, this time with more confidence.

“Alright. What are you getting at brother?” asked Charlie wanting his brother to go straight to the point. 

“With what we got in Mayfield, the money we saved at home and the rest we have enough to dump the Commodore once and for all.” Clarified the older brother; he was right, maybe it would be best to stop here and have a life with your lover, at least it was your wish.

“Sounds feasible, we’ve got a lot.” You said, supporting Eli, who flashed you a quick thankful smile.

“Why would we do that?” asked Charlie clueless, his brother sighed, as for you, you could feel Charlie was already losing patience. 

“Have you ever thought about quitting work?” added Eli, more straightforward this time.

“But to do what?” asked again your lover, stunned.

“Don’t know…we could open a store just the two of us, Y/N could also come with us…” suggested the older brother, hoping this idea might be interesting.

“What store?!” replied Charlie getting annoyed by the whole conversation.

“Listen, both of us, we’ve had a hard time, we’re still alive, still young and we even have love from two wonderful women, it’s a good way out!” clarified Eli, his tone getting desperate, he looked at you for support.

“A store. A way out. What the hell is this bullshit?” exclaimed Charlie, Eli truly felt hurt by the reaction of his little brother and lowered his eyes, he didn’t know what else to add. On your side, you looked at your lover with pity, he truly thought he was good at nothing but killing.

“At least we know you want out, so quit.” He added coldly.

“What does that mean? That if I stop you continue?” replied Eli who was also starting to be angry at his little brother.

“Of course, I continue, I’ll still have Y/N as my new partner.”

“Charlie, at least consider what your brother says…” you intervened gently, briefly touching his hand but now he was fully irritated and looked at you as if you had betrayed him. 

“Alright then, Rex asked me for work, there also Sanchez.” He spoke with hurt in his eyes, he didn’t want to give up his life, the reputation he had built, his importance.

“C’mon Rex and Sanchez you can’t trust them, they won’t protect you.” Objected Eli trying to show him he only meant his well-being. 

“Oh because you protect me?” reproached Charlie, you understood his words had a deeper meaning, it wasn’t all about the current job, something older, a deep wound that never healed and you were pretty sure it was linked to what happened with their father.

“That’s what you tell yourself, to stay the nice Eli…but we’re the Sisters brothers, you and me, the goddamn Sisters brothers.” Charlie’s words were cruel, reflecting how traumatized he was “Fine, you took your decision, fine by me and I can tell you that the Commodore will like it too.”

“Charlie…” you tried, his mean words towards Eli were unnecessary. 

“Y/N stay outta this.” He cut you off, avoiding your gaze; he wished you supported him instead of his brother “So, we finish the job, and split up.” He concluded; his tone final. 

“Why are you saying it like this?! And after we split up?”

“What do you want me to say? If I stay with the Commodore and you-you open your store…”

“What you mean is that we won’t see each other again…”

“Of course not, every time I’ll be in town, if I need somethin’ like a shirt or shorts…” he answered with arrogance, now you felt anger rise in your chest, Charlie was being a dumbass, not even trying to consider the possibility of changing of life.

“Why are you saying this with such meanness?! Those words, why are you taking the conversation to such a low level! Cause you’re drunk!?” this was too much for Charlie who slapped his brother right in the face, the people in the room gasping, outraged at the scene. Every eye in the room were looking at the three you, you could felt their disapproval and felt ashamed to be in the company of someone who couldn’t control his emotions, he needed to learn to behave like an respectable adult. 

Eli left to his room, feeling humiliated. As for you, you were angry at Charlie, why did he have to behave in such puerile way!? So, you got out of the restaurant, you intended to give him a piece of your mind, it wasn’t going to be pretty, but he had to hear this. You found him by the entrance, pacing back and forth, angrily smoking his cigar.

“Why did you have to be such an asshole!?” you exploded, looking at him severely, you were done being nice and soothing with him, he had to understand how childish he had behaved. 

“Oh, you too now?” he replied bitterly.

“Yes, Charlie I’ve never seen a grown man behave so immature!”

“Did you hear him!? I’m not my father! I’m not drunk! In fact, I didn’t drink since we fucked for the first time!” he confessed raising his voice, ignoring the people around hearing him. You were glad he had given up alcohol but that will be for another time.

“You know very well what I’m talking about Charlie! Eli had a good idea; we won’t be so good at this job for many years more! And we’ll end up killed if we don’t settle somewhere!” you spoke urgently, you wanted to save him from his dark mind, offer him peace.

“Oh what now? You want me to become a seller! ‘Good morning to you mam’ you should buy this soap it’s real fuckin’ good!’ Bullshit Y/N!” fumed Charlie with sarcasm, still being stubborn.

“Oh because you think killing and torturing will make you feel better?! That you’ll have bright future ahead? I thought you were the smart one, apparently I was mistaken” you snapped back, hitting him right in the feels. He clenched his jaw at your words, looking at the ground as you left him to go back to your bedroom.

Charlie wandered in the city for several hours, trying to gather is thoughts, trying to understand his brother’s words and yours. Finally, he arrived in front of a brothel, the girls were the prettiest he had ever seen; but for once he couldn’t go inside, it didn’t feel right, and he didn’t feel any desire for them, all he could think of was you, he didn’t want just any woman, he wanted you…he felt…upset that you were mad at him. In that moment he finally understood, he was in love with you.

He had to get back to you and ask for your forgiveness. He rushed back to the hotel and knocked at your door, he didn’t care if it was late in the night, he had to talk to you. You were not asleep, your fight with Charlie had upset you; suddenly you heard someone knocking at your door.

“Y/N please, let me in…” you heard Charlie’s voice. You pinched your lips together; you were not sure you wanted to answer him. The only way to build something solid with Charlie was to settle, otherwise one of you would get killed, but Charlie refused to see that, he needed to understand that he could be happy and that he could be good at something else than killing. He knocked again, his voice more upset this time, you couldn’t resist to his plead and went to open your door.

Relief washed over his face as he saw you, he stepped in, closing the door behind him. He nervously passed his tongue over his lips.

“Y/N forgive me, I should have listened.” He started, he swallowed down as if it took him all his strength to admit this; you didn’t answer, he was sincere but what bothered you even more was why he came back to you, if it was just for fucking or to be his comfort only when he asked for it, you didn’t want him back; no matter how much it would hurt you.

“Before one of us gets heartbroken, is it just about sex or are we having something more?” you suddenly asked, you needed to know, he seemed taken back by your question, he looked to the side, he was tense as if he feared the answer, yours and his. 

“I…What Am I to you Y/N?” he asked you back, still not looking at you, his heart was racing. You wished he would have answered first but if it enabled you to finally know the truth, you will answer first.

“I care about you Charlie, it’s hard to say because it never happened to me before but I think I love you…” you felt like your heart would explode in your chest, waiting was killing you, Charlie finally looked at you in the eyes, he seemed moved, very moved by your confession “What about you Charlie?” you urged him.

“I’d like this to work, very much…I want to stay with you and take care of you.” he admitted with nervousness, he had tears in his eyes, as if it was taking all his will to admit this, all the pain he must have went through to end up like this, you thought. He hadn’t told you he loved you, but his words meant the same. You released a relieved smile, taking his face between your hands, closing the gap between the two of you, he wrapped his arms around you, burying his fingers in your hair.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked you against your lips, you smiled, guiding him to the bed. Tonight, together, your bodies intertwined, you will finally be complete, naked and your feelings bare, for the first time truly loving each other.

_The next morning”_

“I’m starting to think we’ll never find Warm; this city is so damn huge” sighed your lover, taking another drag of his cigarette

“We should check concessions offices…” you muttered sleepily; your face half buried in your pillow, one arm resting on his belly.

“You can stay here a bit more sleepyhead, I’ll go first.” he replied softly, getting up. You yawned, struggling to not fall back asleep as you watched him get dressed.

“You should talk to Eli.” you added; he sighed as he put his hat on his head, then he approached the bed.

“Yes ma'am’” he answered leaning forward to place a loving kiss on your shoulder.

As he closed the door on his way out, you brought his pillow closer to your face so you could breathe in his scent. You were happy, Charlie wasn’t the perfect man but so were you, and you both found comfort in each other’s company.

When you were finally fully awake, you quickly dressed up to help your lover but as you came out of your room you bumped into Eli, he was on his way out too carrying his saddle bag.

“Eli, what are you doing?” you asked him surprised.

“I’m leavin’” he answered, his tone low and frustrated.

“You’re leaving? Eli, your brother did something really stupid last night, but he didn’t mean it…”

“Well he didn’t apologize to me, didn’t he?” he cut you off grumpily.

“Not yet but I’m sure he will before the end of the day.” You insinuated, thinking about the conversation you had with Charlie.

“You don’t know him as well as I do Y/N. He probably spent his night in a brothel, drinking and now he’s sobering up in a back alley” continued Eli, going downstairs, you followed him.

“Well…”

“Please Y/N I know you mean well but I can’t take his childish and arrogant behavior anymore” he cut you off tiredly, you lifted your hands in the air, he needed time to think, he will probably come back as quickly as he left.

You headed outside anyway, you had to find Charlie and help him. But as you walked in the streets you recognized your lovers voice, he had found Eli, and was probably trying to convince him to stay. You decided to stay at a distance, waiting for them to settle their argument; you scoffed at your lover, how he pretend not to remember anything, with time you had understood he always did this rather than face problems. Then, you arched an impressed eyebrow and grinned as Eli threw him a heavy punch in the face, making his little brother fall on the floor, he deserved it.

When Eli laughed, you decided to join them, it was time to leave this part of the city anyway. Charlie was still massaging his jaw, you approached him pretending you didn’t see anything and pressed a big kiss where he had been hit, he winced at first still in pain, but then your touch calmed him, reminding him of the night he had shared with you.

“What do we do now?” you asked them, putting you hat on your head.

“Apparently Charlie knows where they are.” Started Eli, tightening the saddle on his horse.

“Yep, you were right about the concession sweetheart; at the name of Morris, American river, Folsom Lake.” Charlie announced proudly, you grinned in return. As Eli got on his horse ready to depart, you came to stand a few inches from your lover, placing your lips upon his, he leaned into your touch, putting his hands on your hips to bring your body closer to him.

“You did good Charlie.” You assured him, looking at him in the eyes, you were glad he tried to behave, and listened to your advice. He smiled in return, slowly blinking to thank you, if he was rewarded this way each time he behaved, he will do it more often, he thought.

You left for the concession, it wasn’t too far from San Francisco and it shouldn’t be too complicated to find them. You rode for a full day, and had to spend the night in the forest, by tomorrow morning you will get to them. Charlie didn’t wait anymore for his brother to be asleep anymore to be by your side, you were snuggled against him, both of you asleep in each other’s arms.

You jumped awake at a sudden groan coming from Eli and before you could do anything else you were pulled away from Charlie, someone holding you from behind, you realized your lover didn’t move, you instantly feared he had been killed, you struggled trying to break free but a second man came in front of you, Morris. They had the advantage on you, chucking you on the floor, Warm put his knee on your back, blocking your arms while Morris tied your legs together, then your wrists and finally putting a gag on your mouth to prevent you screaming for help.

“Now, let’s kill them!” urged Morris making sure his gun was fully charged. You kept looking at Charlie _‘please be okay!_ ’

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, a part 2 is on the way !


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